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The Mental Health Impacts of Internet Scams

Balcombe, Luke (2025) — International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

DOI: 10.3390/ijerph22060938
Type:   Journal Article
Country:   Australia
Tags:   victim experience, AI misuse, risk factors, prevention, internet scams, investment scam, mental health, psychological distress, AI chatbots, victim support, Australia

Synopsis (AI-Generated)

Cyber fraud schemes have grown in sophistication and are increasingly prevalent in affluent countries such as Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Within this landscape, Australia has demonstrated notable progress in developing intervention strategies and increasing public awareness. Yet, there remains a limited understanding of how victims experience shame and embarrassment, as well as the emotional toll of scams—such as anxiety and depression—along with trauma and the risk of suicide. To address this gap, the perspective article blends a narrative review of existing literature with a case study focused on a group subjected to an investment scam in Australia, with the aim of clarifying the factors associated with negative mental health outcomes after online fraud. The synthesis presented in the article indicates that internet scams produce a spectrum of emotional and social harms, including depression, anxiety, trauma, and social isolation, with these effects often persisting after substantial financial loss. The author contributes deeper insight into the pronounced mental health consequences and introduces a group whose members faced difficulties obtaining adequate support and access to mental health care in their response to a form of insidious organized crime. By centering the experiences of these victims, the work highlights how barriers to help and the covert nature of such crime shape victims’ reactions, underscoring the prolonged distress that can follow substantial loss when suitable support is unavailable or hard to obtain. The discussion leads to practical implications, underscoring the need for improved education, resilience-building, and more robust support systems. The identified shortcomings motivate calls for strategies that tailor digital mental health services to victims of scams, including emotionally attuned, trauma-informed digital companionship delivered through human-like artificial intelligence applications. Such approaches are proposed as supplements to traditional care, with the aim of enhancing accessibility and relevance of mental health support for those affected by pervasive and evolving online fraud.

Identified Gaps (AI-Generated)

Research has emphasized financial losses, scam-site detection, technology, and behavior during fraud more than psychological impacts. The paper identifies limited evidence on profound shame, distress, trauma, suicidality, resilience, coping, recovery education, and suicide prevention. It notes uncertainty about causal links between poor mental health and victimization and how long impacts persist. Existing victim support, including bank, complaints, and police responses, is described as inadequate, while tailored trauma-informed digital mental-health support for scam victims is lacking.

Methods (AI-Generated)

This perspective combined a purposive narrative literature review with an intrinsic qualitative case study of an Australian investment-scam victim group. Searches covered Scopus, ScienceDirect, Sage, ACM Digital Library, PubMed, Google Scholar, and IEEE Xplore, using scam and mental-health terms; English peer-reviewed and media articles from 2010–2025 were selected. The case study involved archival records, a questionnaire emailed to 25 adult Australian victims, and phone interviews with three victims. The author, also a victim, used thematic coding, member checks with one fellow victim, and provided support-service contacts.

Limitations (AI-Generated)

The literature review was purposive rather than systematic because the author reported too few studies meeting strict systematic-review criteria. Its evidence base included media as well as peer-reviewed articles and English-language publications only. The case study concerns one investment scam and adult Australian residents, with a small interview sample (n=3), limiting transferability. The lead author's dual role as victim and researcher may introduce interpretive bias, although reflexivity and a member check were used. The paper also reports no causal relationship between poor mental health and victimization in cited cross-sectional evidence.

Future Work (AI-Generated)

Develop and evaluate combined prevention, intervention, and victim-support strategies, including resilience-building education and integrated mental-health systems. Research should assess the safety, usability, and effectiveness of AI chatbots for scam victims, particularly lived-experience-guided, emotionally attuned, trauma-informed AI companions. Future work should also investigate how mood and emotion influence engagement with scams and clarify the duration and causal direction of scam-related mental-health effects.

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AI-Generated Content Notice

The synopsis and research notes on this page were generated with AI from available publication information and, when available, the uploaded paper text. They may contain errors, omissions, or interpretation issues. Readers should follow the DOI or source link, review the original publication, and make their own judgment about the content.

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